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FACA All Star Basketball

Bryant, Oliver shine in all star classic

Ray DiMonda
Posted 3/22/17

ORANGE PARK - On Saturday, in the Orange Park High School Raiderdome, an event happened for the first time ever. It wasn’t that Orange Park High point guard Jalen Oliver played on the same court …

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FACA All Star Basketball

Bryant, Oliver shine in all star classic


Posted

ORANGE PARK - On Saturday, in the Orange Park High School Raiderdome, an event happened for the first time ever. It wasn’t that Orange Park High point guard Jalen Oliver played on the same court with Oakleaf High shooting forward Jonathan Bryant. It was that the duo played on the same team; both representing North Florida in the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) All State All Star Classic Basketball game which showcased all state players chosen by FACA.

Both players contributed to breaking a five-year string of South Florida’s dominance in the all star classic with the North team winning 104-96 thanks to a second half surge and some timely scores late in the game. South led by as much as 60-53.

It was Bryant breaking open the scoring for the North with a three-pointer from the corner.

“Oh yeah! I felt like I was hot after that," Bryant, who finished with 14 points on the night including a breakaway slam dunk that brought the Raiderdome fans to their feet. “Oh man- this is a blessing being able to part of this. All of these players- being a part of this, as one of the top players in the North and going out like this, this is amazing.”

Bryant would go on hitting baskets and playing tough defense for the North ending the afternoon with one three-pointer, four baskets, and four free throws for a total of 15 on the afternoon, with three of those being his signature break-away slam dunks.

With his collection of all stars all capable of game breaking plays thoughout the high scoring event, North coach David Howard, of Atlantic High School of Port Orange, employed two five-man rotations swapping the whole bench out each time.

“We were trying to create some bonding between those guys, getting them to believe in each other," said Howard, who was afforded just one practice with the whole group lasting only an hour and a half.

In the second half, Howard saw some things he liked and needed, so he modified his plan.

“So, what we ending up doing in the second half was instead of going five in, we went three in trying to get a continuity going with the guys and it worked for us," said Howard. "Originally, I decided I wanted to go five in, five out, but I’m a winner, I believe in winning so I said let’s change some things and let’s put together a group of guys to see what works at the end, we figured it out and that’s how we were able to come back and put up 104 points. That is a lot to score in a high school game.”

Orange Park’s Jalen Oliver played opposite Bryant on the five in. When his group was in, he saw plenty of defensive action and had several feeds where his teammates were putting the ball in. On the afternoon, Oliver had three baskets with two being his misdirection lay-ups which left the South defense standing in their tracks. Oliver hit two free throws for a total of eight on the afternoon.

“I’m just so happy to be here. As a basketball player, all you ever want is respect and recognition," said Oliver. "That’s what I finally got after four years. What a wonderful way to cap it off. I’m so blessed to have the opportunity”

Asked about playing on the squad of only 10 players representing all of Northern Florida, Oliver said “I’m just blessed to even be out here. It was real exciting and I was looking forward to playing alongside Jonathan for once, playing alongside the other great players and making things happen.”

In the second half, after Howard started mixing his two five man squads, both Oliver and Bryant did share the court if only for a few minutes.

The game was played with a college style clock of two 20 minute halves, giving the game a special appeal. During the game, it was not the North winning the whole time. Going into halftime, the North squad was down 60-53 and needed to come back hard to beat the South. It took until five minutes remaining in the game for the North team to pull within one point 88-87.

At 2:34 left, the North finally went up by one. With a little more than a minute left, the North was up 97-93 and really found the talent they needed on defense, denying the South on several shots. With 1:21 left, up 99-93, Howard called time out to keep his team focused. He told them nothing but a lay-up and stay locked up one-on-one on defense. With 35 seconds left, the North continued their brick wall defense and would not let the South make it to the hoop, up 101-93. With the South overplaying as they looked for the win, they fouled and the North added another basket from the foul line, 102-93.

With 7.8 seconds left, 104-98, the South called a time out to try and regain some composure as they threw the ball out of bounds, handing the throw in back to the North. The South team would never get another chance as the North All-Stars played keep away to finish off the game. Ironically, the score controller broke, so Orange Park had to use the controller for the Football scoreboard. That controller does not go past 100, so in the end the final score read 4-96.